[Milsurplus] KY-65/ARA-26 Keyer

[Mike Morrow]

This keyer was used by the USAF with AN/ARC-21, AN/ARC-65, and AN/ARC-58 installations.  I have never come an instruction manual.

It sends S O S from a permanently-mounted metal disk, then a numerical AIRCRAFT ID encoded by breaking teeth off of a red plastic disk.

Oddly, it send SOS incorrectly, as ( ... ___ ,,, ).  SOS is correctly sent ONLY as one continuous prosign ( ...___... ) with no character spacing between SOS elements.  I guess the designer saw too many movies.

I found my C-790/ARA-26 on eBay.

Mike / KK5F

-----Original Message-----

From: Tom Brent 

Can anyone tell me where to find a manual and/or schematic for the KY-65/ARA-26 keyer? I do a number of radio displays each year and c.w. (sent by me) is an essential part of stimulating interest; I figure the KY-65 discs turning and sending SOS might be an interesting addition. I did find a schematic online in a scanned 73 Magazine but the quality is poor and difficult to read.

I'm looking for the C-790 control box as well although making a copy shouldn't be difficult since I have some of the toggle switch guards that the original control used to prevent the keyer from being activated accidentally.

Happy tinkering.

TB